Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

Long-shot election recounts would get pricey for Michigan candidates under House bill

The House Elections and Ethics Committee voted unanimously Thursday to double the cost of recount requests for candidates who have little to no shot of winning a recount of the election results.

Current law requires a $25 per precinct deposit with the county clerk or state Bureau of Elections for a recount or $125 per precinct if the candidate lost by more than 75 votes or 0.5% of the total votes cast. The bill passed by the committee doubles the recount cost to $250 per precinct for the latter.

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein asked for a recount after the 2016 election, even though she got only 51,463 votes, or 1.07% of the nearly 4.8 million votes cast for president.

She paid $973,250 for the recount for the entire state and was refunded $632,625 because only 2,725 precincts in 26 counties were counted before the recount was halted by a federal judge.

Stein's recount request questioned Michigan’s aging voting system and the 75,000 ballots in Michigan in which voters picked no one for president. In Michigan, Republican Donald Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton by 10,704 votes.

The bill – SB 290 – now moves to the full House of Representatives for a vote on final passage.